To control the hydraulic legs of the humanoid robot, we decided to design and optimize a hydraulic proportional valve with the smallest possible mass and size. Despite its compactness, it must allow high flow rates for fast robot movements, and at the same time we want to ensure smaller internal oil leakage.
Based on the principle of the rotary valve, we designed, sized and optimized the proportional valve for installation and production. For better sealing and simplified manufacturing, we introduced seals on the spool. We performed numerical simulations of the basic characteristics and compared them with measurements on the manufactured prototype. We found that the newly developed valve achieved significantly better results in sealing and flow properties compared to conventional proportional valves, was smaller and easier to manufacture.
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